How strategic insights can help your career in a crisis

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic you may be facing one or more of the following situations: (i) redundancy; (ii) a pay cut; (iii) uncertainty as to whether you have a job or role in the coming months; (iv) doubt about your career prospects, in light of opportunities that are harder to pursue; (v) new opportunities in a business that is buoyant and resilient, even in these times.

You face some personal choices

Whatever the situation, you face some choices:

• What you step forward to – the role you play to help your organisation at this critical time, or in your family if you've lost your job or been 'furloughed'.
• What you will have to pause or stop – e.g. activities towards a promotion, if it’s been delayed, or initiatives you were pursuing.
• How you show up at work (and home) – the energy you give off, the attitude you take in challenging, uncertain circumstances.
• What you prioritise in your life – in work, between work and home life, particularly those of us who have children and/or caring responsibilities.

A strategy for your career should be based on explicit choices as to what you do and don't do, and be coherent - not just a collection of actions or goals. It also needs to be communicated clearly to colleagues and family, as appropriate, so that they know what to expect and how they can help. Professors Markides and Vermeulen articulate these points in these LBS Think and HBR articles.

Is the crisis an opportunity for career reinvention?

We’re going to experience a period of prolonged uncertainty, and change – at home, work and in our communities. Companies will respond in a number of different ways:

• Some will revert back to type once the crisis resides, or at least try to even if their employees have different needs and expectations.
• Others will use this experience as a catalyst for changes – more purposeful in their deeds, more generous to their communities, less demanding on the environment (e.g. by encouraging their people to travel less), more open to using technology to work smartly and more willing to empower their people. 

Society may reappraise the value of professions, especially those (e.g. healthcare professionals) that have been essential throughout the crisis. Aspects of home life, such as parental responsibilities and our consumption habits, too may evolve as we learn from the experience of home-working, and -schooling, and resource shortages.

This should be seen in the context of shifts in demographics and workplace dynamics. People are living, and working longer, in a multi-stage 100-year life, which involves more career transitions (through experimentation) and new identities.

Finding your next job or your way in this new context will require a mindset of reinvention – open to new possibilities, willing to experiment and unashamed to leave things behind.

It was refreshing to hear that the majority of a nearly 300 strong group of London Business School students and alumni felt that people will perform better after the crisis; and that there will be transformational (47%) or at least evolutionary change (46%) in organisations.

Four personas to avoid as you experiment in new roles and jobs

Whatever your context, role and immediate challenges, avoid taking on one or more of the following personas that I've seen repeatedly play out (badly) over the last 24 years:

1. Busy bee – you want to do everything, take on every responsibility. However, you don't achieve that much, as your focus and productivity take a hit, and at some point you're going to burn out. You're certainly don't have enough time to spot new trends and opportunities and then develop a plan to take advantage of them.
2. Peacock – you think you’re brilliant, show off, ignore the people who got you there. But you’ll end up lonely, and when you need help no-one will be there for you.
3. Adulation addict – you want people to like you, recognise your achievements. You are always seeking external validation. It becomes addictive. But you lose sight of what matters, and your inner self, in a rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows.
4. Masked person – you put on a different face to your natural or real self because you think people around you want something different from your true personality. It will come out at some point. Our CEO Survey showed that the biggest source of CEO turnover was ethical lapses – doing something in their private or corporate life that was wrong, and not in accordance with their public persona.

Career progression involves difficult transitions

There are eight aspects that change as you progress your career:

• Leverage – your capacity to lead larger teams, sharing your ideas, capability and experience in a way that they can access and then utilise.
• Visibility – you become far more visible across and outside the organisation
• Coaching – you can’t possibly do or direct the work so you have to coach people to think and act for themselves, rather than micro manage. This article by Herminia Ibarra and Anne Scoular sets out what it takes for a leader to act as a coach.
• Brand management – as your role and presence grows people will see you in many different lights. You need to find a way to combine this in an overall personal brand that you manage and communicate with clarity and confidence.
• Influencing – you can’t direct people as much as you think. They have far more choices re their time, attention, energy than you’d think.
• Demands on time – you have to prioritise your time, attention and energy.
• Exposure – leadership comes with more responsibility and more accountability. The role - especially the lives you are responsible for - becomes far more personal.
• Trust – trust in your team has to increase otherwise you'll get overwhelmed. Recruitment and selection of talent critical to this end.

The group felt that ‘Influence’ (27%), ‘Personal brand’ (24%) and ‘Trust’ (12%) were the top three hardest aspects of these transitions.

10 strategic insights to help your career

So, what can we learn from strategy research and experience that can help navigate the short-term (through the COVID-19 pandemic) and then in the subsequent period? Here are ten insights:

1.       Spot the inflection points and act on them: this means reaching a view on what’s hot, and what’s coming in terms of the demand for skills, and experience - and then act on them. Nourish your curiosity in the context you’re facing, using your networks and do your research. What roles, jobs, skills will be in demand, and what should you do to prepare?

2.      Find the “flow” in your organisation/ecosystem, and then go with it. Make it easy for people to suggest things, and give you feedback – share your strategy clearly (recognising very few will be as interested in it as you are), invite ideas, listen attentively, be approachable. Give them psychological safety.

3.      Craft the role you want, playing to your strengths. Aim really high.

4.      Pivot towards new role. Don’t let pride or legacy get in the way; don’t hold on for too long. Say no, firmly.

5.      Apply a mindset of continual re-invention. Ask yourself why you’re still doing a task in the same way, and why you’re doing it. Disrupt yourself. Break bad habits, long-standing ways of working, thinking. Upskill regularly; develop a practice of lifelong learning with a purpose. Explore new avenues, people, environments.

6.      Focus on impact more than output. And find creative ways to articulate your impact so the people that matter "get you".

7.      Separate identity from work. Derek Thompson at the Atlantic talks about workism, which he described as “a kind of religion, promising identity, transcendence, and community.” When things go wrong at work, the results can feel emotionally devastating. Put work in its place - part of life, but not the defining or overbearing part.

8.      Show some grit/persistence. Many of the best things in a career come to those who show some graft, in difficult circumstances. This doesn’t always mean working long hours; work smartly, but stick at it.

9.      Manage your energy. Create space to reflect, recharge and start again. This helps to improve clarity of thought, creativity and resilience. Edison said I have not failed,” Edison famously said. “I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” I've seen too many people suffer physically and mentally from burn-out from obsessive, type A approach to careers with little attention paid to self-care.

10.   Work out your "non-negotiables" - e.g. ethics, time for family/yourself, financial risk – and stick to them.

The group felt that a ‘Mindset of continual reinvention’ (16%), ‘Focus on impact’ (13%) and ‘Aim high and craft the role you want’, along with ‘Manage your assets and energy wisely’ (12%) would have the biggest impact on their careers, although there was a relatively even spread of answers across these ten factors.

Take charge of your life, and craft the career you want

In the current climate, personal reinvention may be a necessity for many people given the significant number of job losses. Or this crisis could be a catalyst to explore new career paths.

Only you can work out if you’re leading the life you want, including the career you’re pursuing. And if you’re being successful.

We see the public side of people and look on in awe, with envy even when we check out their LinkedIn Profile, biography on the web-site or twitter feed. That’s one part of their life; but you have little idea what else they have. And, in the end, who cares – stop comparing yourself to others. Here's what I suggest you do:

• Develop a broader, healthier sense of your identity – this will ground you in what’s important, and help you to discover new possibilities.
• Craft your own career, your own life; play to your strengths and make some choices. Find the people and environment that nourish you. Make it easy for people to get you.

And remember to give something back (to your community or hospital (Great Ormond Street Hospital, my personal favourite - below)) along the way.